Method and apparatus for reducing the amount of backstrap trimmed from hog bellies



Dec. 3, 1968 B L. THOMAS 12 414931 METHOD AND APPARA'I 'US FOR REDUCING THE AMOUNT Filed Dec. 23, 1966 BACKSTRAP TRIMMED PROM HOG BELLIES 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR BR/CE L. THOMAS Dec. 3, 1968 B. L. THOMAS 3,414,031

METHOD AND AR 5 FOR REDUC N THE AMOUNT OF BACKS AP MMED FROM 1-! BELLIES Filed Dec. 23, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NVEN T OR.

United States Patent 3,414,031 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF BACKSTRAP TRIMMED FROM HOG BELLIES Brice L. Thomas, Omaha, Nebr., assignor to Armour and Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 604,272 Claims. (Cl. 146-241) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an improvement in assemblies for slicing compressible materials such as hog bellies and the like. The improvement is a slicing guide for reducing the amount of backstrap trimmed from hog bellies preparatory to producing bellies of uniform widths which when sliced will yield sliced bacon of corresponding uniform lengths. The guide is generally comprised of a bracket and a guide plate vertically fixed thereto. The guide plate is angularly disposed to the path of the bellies and is disposed immediately forward of the trimming knife so that the material will run into the plate and be compressed thereby as the material advances along the plate and is fed into the trimming knife which thereby trims less backstrap.

Background of the invention In the slicing of compressible materials such as hog bellies to form sliced bacon, the first step is to trim or size the bellies to uniform widths which when sliced will yield the desired lengths of sliced bacon. This sizing operation will yield satisfactory lengths of bacon slices provided the bellies are sliced shortly afterwards and without being stacked on one another.

In conventional bacon slicing operations, however, the sized bellies are not often fed to the slicing apparatus immediately after being sized but must frequently wait to be sliced and are usually stacked on top of each other in the meantime as an efiicient means of temporary storage. As a consequence, when the bellies are ready for slicing, the width of the bellies have been found to be greater than previously sized due to being compressed by the other bellies or due to the natural compressive force from the weight of each individual belly upon itself which results in some flattening and a corresponding expansion in the width and length of the belly if allowed to stand for a period of time.

When such oversized bellies are sliced the bacon will be longer than is acceptable for the containers in which the slices will be packaged and will be rejected or require further handling to be made acceptable.

In an attempt to solve this problem, some packing houses have resorted to the practice of sizing the bellies to narrower widths which will allow for the later expansion. This has not proved to be very satisfactory as it is diflicult to judge how much more of the belly should be trimmed to allow for expansion to the desired width. To obviate any possible packing problems, however, excessive amounts of belly are usually trimmed from the width which is a very wasteful practice as the belly is considerably more valuable than the trim, referred to as backstrap.

Another practice has been to use the oversized bellies in the slicing apparatus and trim the belly to the desired width by a trimming or backstrap knife installed on the slicing assembly at some point before the slicing blade. But this is not entirely satisfactory either as it trims away belly which could be sliceable but for the expansion in width.

Patented Dec. 3, 1968 Summary of the invention It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new method and apparatus for reducing the amount of backstrap cut from hog bellies while simultaneously yielding bellies having widths that will yield sliced bacon of an acceptable length.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new method and apparatus for reducing the amount of trim cut from any compressible material prior to being sliced.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the specification proceeds.

I have discovered that if sized hog bellies which subsequently become oversized are compressed to the desired width and then released from compression, a portion of each belly will re-expand but a more substantial portion will remain in compression and thus expose less belly to the backstrap knife which will accordingly out less backc strap. Furthermore, when the belly is sliced immediately or shortly after the backstrap is cut therefrom, there will be no further expansion because of the break-up of the belly into individual bacon slices which dissipates the forces present in the belly tending to cause an expansion of the belly.

This result is brought about by the method and apparatus of the present invention which generally comprises a bracket fixed to the slicing assembly and a guide plate fixed to the bracket and disposed forward of the slicing blade and in the path of an edge of the oncoming belly. The plate is angularly disposed to the path and disposed immediately forward of the backstrap knife such that the belly will run into the plate and be compressed thereby as the belly moves forward along the plate and is fed into the backstrap knife.

Brief description of the drawing The invention will be more specifically described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the apparatus of the instant invention.

FIG. 2 is a view of the right hand end of said apparatus as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top view of said apparatus and a hog belly being compressed thereby.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of said apparatus fixed to a slicing assembly.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring now to the drawings, the slicing guide of the instant invention is generally comprising of an L shaped frame 10, a guide plate 12 vertically fixed thereto, and means 14 for fixing the slicing guide to a slicing assembly 16.

The frame 10 is preferably fabricated from inch thick stainless steel strapping and has a vertical leg 10a and a horizontal leg 10b angularly disposed thereto as shown in FIG. 3. The upper portion of the vertical leg 10a is bent away from the frame 10 to provide a more ready connection with the means 14 for fixing the guide to the slicing assembly 16.

The guide plate 12 is preferably fabricated from Ms inch thick stainless steel plate and is generally rectangular in configuration with a length approximately equal to the length of the horizontal leg 10b. The plate 12 is vertically disposed to the horizontal leg 10b at the inside edge 18 thereof and is welded to the leg 10b to form a solid integral unit as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The leg 10b is angularly disposed as previously described and the plate 12 thus assumes the same angular disposition.

The means 14 for fixing the guide to the assembly is generally comprised of bracket 20 welded at one end to the slicing blade guard 22 of the slicing assembly 16, a horizontally disposed rail 24 bolted to the other end of the bracket 20, and a slideable bar 26 that rides on the rail 24 and that can be fixed thereto in different horizontal positions by means of set screws 28. The end of the vertical leg a is welded to the bottom portion of the slideable bar 26 to thereby adjustably fix the slicing guide to the slicing assembly 16.

The trimming or backstrap knife 30 is also adjustably fixed to the slicing blade guard 22. The top and bottom ends of the knife 30 are bolted to a top bracket 32a and a lower bracket 3212 which are adjustably fixed to the slicing guard 22 by means of a horizontal slot 34 in each bracket 32a and b and a plurality of bolts 35 therein fixing the brackets 32a and b to the guard 22. The knife 30 is disposed immediately after the point of maximum compression 37 on the plate 12 and in line therewith to trim the belly immediately after leaving the plate 12. The knife 30 is also angularly disposed, as shown in FIG. 1, to provide for ease of slicing when the belly is pushed against the knife 30.

The slicing assembly 16 can be any conventional bacon slicer such as the Anco Slicer manufactured by The Allbright-Nell Company as illustrated in FIG. 5. In the Anco type equipment the horizontal leg 10!) of the frame 10 rests on the slicing bed 40 on which the bellies are moved by the gripper 42 to the slicing blade. The slicing guide is also adjusted with respect to the slicing bed wall 44 to provide for a clearance that will be approximately the same as the desired length of sliced bacon.

In operation, the slicing guide function as follows: A stack of sized hog bellies are moved to the bacon slicer and the operator of the slicer takes each of the bellies in the stack and runs the bellies through the slicer one at a time. Each belly on the slicer bed 40 is held by the grip er 42 which also slides the belly towards the slicing knife. As the belly moves forward, and assuming the belly is oversized, the forward corner of the belly closest to the slicing guide will run into the guide plate 12. The belly continues to move forward with one edge against the slicing bed wall 44 and the other edge against the guide plate 12 which compresses the belly across its width.

The compression of the belly increases as it advances along the plate 12 due to the angular disposition thereof and will reach a maximum at the end of the plate 12 whereupon the belly moves into the backstrap knife 30 in a compressed condition and trims the belly. The belly is then moved to the slicing blade and sliced into strips of bacon.

The amount of belly that is compressed adds to the thickness or height of the belly but does not cause any buckling because the oversized bellies described herein are usually only slightly oversized and only a relatively small amount of sliceable belly is recaptured by having the backstrap compressed onto the belly before slicing. Furthermore, the belly that is compressed will not entirely remain compressed but will to a certain extent relax or re-expand along the width of the belly after leaving the guide plate 12. But by slicing the belly immediately or shortly after leaving the guide plate and being trimmed by the backstrap knife, this tendency to re-expand is stopped due to the breakup of the belly into individual bacon slices. Consequently, the method and apparatus of this invention does not eliminate all the backstrap but does substantially reduce the amount that is cut. And this amount makes for a much more eificient and satisfactory method of slicing hog bellies when it is considered that every week as many as 300,000 pounds of hog bellies are sliced by some packing houses and that this invention has been able to recapture about 1,000 pounds of belly per week which would otherwise be lost as backstrap.

Although the guide plate has been described as being fixed to the L shaped frame, it must be understood that the invention is not limited thereto but comprehends any other suitable means for holding the plate in the angular disposition as described hereinabove.

Similarly, while the embodiment of the invention chosen herein for purposes of the disclosure is considered to be preferred, it must also be understood that this invention in intended to cover all changes and modifications on the disclosed embodiment which fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In an assembly for slicing a compressible material which is moved toward a slicing blade and trimmed to a predetermined width by means of a trimming knife prior to slicing, the improvement of a slicing guide for reducing the amount of material trimmed by said trimming knife, said guide comprising: A guide plate and means to fix said guide plate to said assembly, said guide plate lying forward of said slicing blade and said trimming knife and angularly disposed in the path of an edge of the oncoming compressible material whereby the material will run into said plate and be compressed thereby as said material advances along said plate and is fed into said trimming knife thereby trimming less of said material.

2. The slicing guide as set forth in claim 1 wherein the means to fix the guide plate to the assembly is comprised of a bracket and means to adjustably fix said bracket to the assembly, and wherein said bracket is generally L shaped and comprised of a vertical leg and a horizontal leg, said guide plate being vertically fixed to said horizontal leg.

3. In an assembly for slicing bacon from hog bellies moved on a bed toward a slicing blade and trimmed to a predetermined width by means of a backstrap knife prior to slicing, the improvement of a slicing guide for reducing the amount of backstrap trimmed from hog bellies, said guide comprising: A generally L shaped bracket having a generally vertical leg and a horizontal leg angularly disposed thereto; means to adjustably fix said vertical leg to said assembly; a guide plate fixed to said horizontal leg and lying forward of said slicing blade and said trim ming knife and angularly disposed in the path of an edge of the oncoming hog bellies whereby the corner and side of each hog belly will run into said plate and be compressed thereby as the belly advances along said plate and is fed into said backstrap knife thereby trimming less backstrap from the hog bellies.

4. In a method for slicing a compressible material which is moved toward a slicing blade and trimmed to a predetermined wvidth by means of a trimming knife prior to slicing, the improvement comprising the steps of compressing said material just prior to being fed to said trimming knife to reduce the amount of material trimmed thereby, and slicing said material immediately after being compressed and trimmed to prevent any expansion of the compressed material.

5. In a method for slicing bacon from hog bellies moved toward a slicing blade and trimmed to a predetermined width by means of a backstrap knife prior to slicing, the improvement comprising the steps of compressing said belly just prior to being fed to the backstrap knife to reduce the amount of backstrap trimmed thereby, and slicing said bellies immediately after being compressed and trimmed to prevent any expansion of the compressed belly.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,170,512 8/1939 Anvanitis l4678 JAMES M. MEISTER, Primary Examiner. 

